.... or rather a lack of.
A friend and I were chatting on saturday night and she thought she recalled her parents owning a car that instead of an indicator stalk, there was a single button on the dashboard that operated the indicators. IE up for Right, down for Left.
So is she going mad? or is there just a car or cars?
JaB
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I don't think she is going mad! A friend's mga has an odd switch thingy where you twist it to either side to get the indicator flashing for that side.
teabelly
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yer - plenty of old cars had a big knob in the niddle of the dash with a lever extension on it, turn right for right and left for left, with a flashing lamp in the middle (of course in those days you had to bang the middle of the B post to make the semaphore arm pop out as well)
Ca for cars with knobs, austins spring to mind, a Devon if i recall.
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VERY old cars (e.g.my parents' 1938 Standard 8) had a left/right switch on the steering-wheel boss to work the 'trafficators'.
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My old mini had that.
It just stuck out of the dashboard with a long extension thingy on the switch.
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No - she's not going mad. I can think of a few likely candidates:
I have childhood memories of a neighbour's Austin A40 which had the most enormous black indicator switch (more of a lever, in fact) in the centre of the dash. More recently I used to own an early SEAT Ibiza - that didn't have a stalk but instead had a great big rocker switch. I think that the Citroen CX has a similar arrangement, but I'm sure that somebody will correct me if I'm wrong....
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Marvelous....
wasn't I clever then in not completely "pooh-poohing" the idea.
:D
Jab
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I also seem to recall these knobs were mounted "upside down" on some austins, ie the lever thingy at the top or bottom on different models just to confuse things........
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A switch in the dashboard was a common fitment in the 50s and early 60s, I think the "sophisticated" ones even had a clockwork timer which would cancel the indicators after they'd been on for a while.
Gareth
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Weren't the ones on earlier Fiat Uno's pretty weird? Paddles either side of the dash?
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Weren't the ones on earlier Fiat Uno's pretty weird? Paddles either side of the dash?
Fantastic.... the very car we were talking about :-) my UNO had a proper stalk... she will be pleased.
Cheers
JaB
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>> Weren't the ones on earlier Fiat Uno's pretty weird? Paddles either >> side of the dash? >> Fantastic.... the very car we were talking about :-) my UNO had a proper stalk... she will be pleased.
OK - if we're getting into the detail...
Early Unos did indeed have the weirdest dash: flaps and paddles in place of 'normal' switches to control lights and wipers. They did not work the indicators. They were still controlled by a conventional stalk.
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>> >> Weren't the ones on earlier Fiat Uno's pretty weird? Paddles >> either >> >> side of the dash? >> >> >> Fantastic.... the very car we were talking about :-) my UNO >> had a proper stalk... she will be pleased. OK - if we're getting into the detail... Early Unos did indeed have the weirdest dash: flaps and paddles in place of 'normal' switches to control lights and wipers. They did not work the indicators. They were still controlled by a conventional stalk.
Ah-ha... so there was still a stalk even tho' the dash had all kinds of stange flappy switches....
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OK, I'll get in before anyone else does.
My BMW doesn't have any indicators at all, at least none that I know of...
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OK, I'll get in before anyone else does. My BMW doesn't have any indicators at all, at least none that I know of...
then perhaps the driving test should include hand signals for the BMW sector of our society?
rustbucket (the original)
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If they test BMW drivers for hand signals, they might get more than they bargained for!
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Big bakelite (spelling) knobs on Bedford CA vans, chrome switch/levers by the horn in the centre of steering wheel on Ford Populars? The stalk from steering column, with a green light on the end AND a flashing light in the speedometer in first Minis!
Am I going mad, or just showing my age??!!
VB
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So what is the best arrangement of switches on a dashboard...?
The original Uno (as mentioned earlier) was great. Almost everyting could be operated whilst still keeping your hands on the wheel. I even fitted a simple cut out switch that looked like a front fog light switch in the pod - car never got stolen...
Citroen Visa with 'satellite control pods' or Citroen BX.
Merc multi function stalk - nightmare
Don't get me started on BWM i-Drive.
And for stupidity............Honda CR-V with dealer fitted front fogs - the switch is hidden under the dash where you can feel it but not see it from the wheel and the warning light is in the switch. Merrily driving along at night with front fogs on and NO IDEA AT ALL.
Any other stupid switch locations, anyone?
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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"So what is the best arrangement of switches on a dashboard...?"
For a moment, I thought an ideal solution would be voice activation.
But how would it cope with "INDICATE, YOU ***********!!!" as I have been known to bellow. Would the car think I was talking to it, get offended and sulk?
V
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Merc multi function stalk - nightmare
Don't remind me - test driving an MB, on an A road at 60, slip road approaching, push indicator stalk to the left...
Oh. It's not the indicator stalk. It's the cruise control stalk and I've just told the car that I want to limit my speed to the pre-programmed figure. Which is 30.
Screeeeeech behind.
Tank you MB for that useful safety feature!
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"So what is the best arrangement of switches on a dashboard...?"
My brother ran a 1985 Isuzu Impulse for a while. Impulse was the US market name I think it was called Piazza in Japan. The indicator switch was a small paddle located on a dash board pod/binnacle. The aircon, and headlight controls etc were also on pods surrounding the steering wheel.
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My parents owned an Austin Somerset which had the indicator switch on the steering wheel. The switch would slide either to the left or right depending upon direction and sometimes did not self cancel. The car went through many MOT's like this until one garage requested warning lights be inserted in the dash as the trafficators could be left on by mistake.
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..or, as on the Morris 1000, the semaphore indicators didn't cancel quickly enough and the other half snapped them off on the gate posts.....:-)
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I vaguely remember my Dad's old Austin van having an indicator switch on the dashboard.
IIRC, there was also a push switch on the floor next to the clutch pedal to put the headlights on dip and main beam. Or was that the plunger for the windscreen squirters?
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Pedal swith on floor in Britsh cars for dipping headlights, and possibly Fiats and VW Karman Ghias with rubber nipple on dash for washers.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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We used to have a 1947 Austin 7 which had a foot operated switch on the left of the footwell to dip the lights.
It also had a string pull just above the offside doors so that the driver could pull up a rear window blind to prevent being "dazzled" by following cars.
As the headlights were about as useful as candles there wasn't much danger...:-)
The front windscreen could be opened upwards to provide "air conditioning" - not much fun for those in the back.
I also remember the time my Dad spent heating up the spark plugs in the oven during the winter in order to get the Austin started - otherwise he had to go without a drink.....
But memories are fond ones of the Austin which took us all over the country on holiday and visits to various family members.
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I love this one Stuartli. Of course as we all know all up market cars are shortly to have their indicator stalks removed anyway as redundant....
For many years well into the 60's the foot dipswitch was standard. My first car a 1934 Austin 10, actually lowered one light beam via a relay while keeping the other one one on. But as you say the lights were so feeble anyway it didn't make a lot of difference.
My old man also heated up the plugs in the oven in the winter to get the Morris 10 into action. Not to mention the weekly dose of Holts Piston Seal to provide enough compression to achieve starting, then the tin of Castrol XXL (that's SAE40 for you youngsters) and the gallon can of water in the boot so that top ups could be made every 30 miles or so. Billowing clouds of white smoke on the Dorking bypass en route to Worthing for the day at a very steady 29 mph.......
The term "a crash gearbox" meant exactly what it suggested.
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